The piece seems pretty exaggerated to generate clicks. "Hacker houses" have been a thing in Silicon Valley forever. You share a large house with a bunch of like-minded people and get a tiny space of your own to sleep in. For someone in their early-mid 20s, what's the harm? It's the perfect way to build a community and have a blast.
"Build community" is not to be undervalued! Having mentors is great, but just having someone to tell your problems to, and have them just have them be facing the same problems, and have no solutions, doesn't seem like it would offer much support until you've experienced it. I didn't understand that when I was younger. The community you make at a hacker house is worth putting up with a lack of personal space for a time.
But as the article points out- some of the people are techies trying to network and find success in SF's tech scene, and others are people struggling to get by working at Carls Jr...
